Army_Air_Force

Since mine were reclaimed, I got them at one third of the price of new 2' x 3's! A considerable saving.

yes, about 60 to 70Kg each! I've laid 22 so far.

While I had been working on my paving, my neighbour had been digging out more of the tree roots, preparing to fell it. It was actually two trunks intertwined, one of which was already dead. It was already loose in the ground, so I suggested trying a rope around it and just pulling it down. After a few good tugs on the rope, the tree started moving and once we got it rocking, it wasn't going to stay standing long. A few more good pulls on the rope and down it came. Never felled a tree by just pulling it over before! With the tree on the ground, out came my chainsaw and it was cut up into managable chunks with little effort. Many of the branches were hollow or dead and brittle. The pieces were piled up along the wall, out of the way for now and the concrete rubble bagged up as hardcore for other garden projects.

October 12th I got sand mixed into the soil from the end of the observatory to the join between the lawn and railway. Next, two paving slabs worth of foundations had cement mixed in and packed down before light rain stopped work. October 13th The remains of the concrete pillar was brought down by slicing it into small sections which could then be chiseled out. My neighbour had also dug out a lot of the soil around the tree and had cut all of the upper branches off. I tried to do some more foundations, but the soil was too wet from the rain. October 15th I had a rest day on Saturday the 14th and got back to work on the 15th. The day was spent on the path foundations all the way to the lawn/railway join. Using the 10 pound tamper was exhausting, but I got about another 16 feet of the foundations prepared. October 16th The 16th was mostly about laying paving. After sorting the MOT on one of the cars, all the tools came out and I carried seven paving slabs down to the hedge. Much of the rest of the day was spent mixing mortar and laying the slabs.

October 9th/10th/11th On the 9th, I spent several hours cutting back the hawthorn hedge and the ivy growing at its base, where I wanted my path. The following day, I began breaking up the clay soil. My drill attachment kept buzzing on some bricks, buried a couple of inches below the surface, so out came the trowel and I started digging them out. Then a few more, and more, all the way along the hedge. This digging bricks out continued into the 11th. I ended up with quite a large pile. They would be useful however, for a wall repair along side the driveway. My back was aching, so I turned my attention to a job I could do standing up, the wonky wall. Since we moved house, one section of the driveway wall has had a significant bow and lean to it. This was caused by a branch and the roots of an old tree in my neighbour's garden. I'd warned my daughter to keep away from it, as it didn't look particularly stable. Using the 9 inch diamond cutting wheel to cut the mortar, I was able to separate the large capping stones, after which, the bricks were literally falling out. My neighbour came out after hearing the noise and then gave me a hand to dismantle the wall - by hand. I've taken a few walls down over the years, normally requiring a lot of hammering a bolster chisel to break out the bricks from the mortar. I think this wall was built with lime mortar, as it was very white and powdery, allowing the bricks to be pulled off by hand, many with no effort. How the wall stayed standing for so long is a mystery. By the end of the day, the wall was down, including part of a bodged concrete and brick pillar at the right end, that at one time must have had a wooden gatepost attached to it.

Many years ago, I almost lost the end of a finger because of the blade guard, getting it jammed between the wheel and guard. Since then, no guard, it's safer.

After feeling a few spots of rain, I had to make a temporary redirection of the garage guttering, to stop it washing away the fresh mortar from around the last slab. Here's the full 36 feet length that I've done over the last month. The next stage will begin from where I'm standingtaking the picture, along the new lawn and railway. I'm fighting to get as much done as I can while the weather allows. Once the lawn and railway stretch are done, I'll then finish the length behind the garage. This area needs much more digging out to stay below the damp proof course. That will conclude the main planned works in the garden. There's other smaller projects of course, but completing the path will finish the whole observatory/lawn/railway landscaping project.

My new diamond cutting wheels make easy work of cutting the 70Kg concrete slabs. One needed cutting narrower to clear the plastic tube containing the observatory power cable. I marked the cut line along a piece of wood using the small grinder, before cutting it with the 9 inch wheel. On the 8th, I finished laying the last two slabs that bring the path up to the garage. That makes 36 feet of paving laid so far. I'm stopping work at this end now and moving back down the garden, to start extending the path beside the lawn and down to the railway - another 36 feet stretch.

October 6th/7th On the 6th, I laid another five paving slabs, from the back of the planters to most of the way along the back of the trailer hardstanding. Also on the 6th, I moved the remaining eighteen paving slabs from next to the workshop to the trailer hardstanding. Once there, they were all jetwashed. While I was wet, I also jetwashed the concrete driveway in front of the garage. On the 7th, more earthcrete foundations were prepared, ending at the garage.

Just looked it up. The series began in 1974. $6,000,000 in 1974 is worth $37,366,247.46 today. Call it a sixth sense, but I think that's a little outside my budget!

.....that is desparately in need of an overhaul! 😁

On the 29th, I spent the day with the power drill, breaking up the clay soil, to around 4 inches deep. Building sand was mixed in next, to further break up the clay and to dry it out. That was followed by mixing cement into it and tamping it down. The ten pound tamper took about ten strikes to pack down one square foot. One hundred pounds lifted for every square foot flattened. My arms and shoulders still haven't forgiven me. Once an area large enough for another four paving slabs was flattened, it was lightly watered a few times over the next few hours, to cure the earthcrete. The 1940s show at the Royal Navy Museum in Hartlepool gave me a couple of days off hard work, but I was back out today. The next four slabs had their edges cleaned up and were lifted up against the fence until the mortar was mixed. More sand was barrowed from the front garden and then the mortar mixing began. These four slabs bring the path almost up to the trailer hardstanding. I've already removed the wooden shuttering that supported the hardstanding concrete, but need to bury the observatory armoured power supply cable along the edge, before preparing any more paving foundations. So eight slabs laid, only another twenty eight to go. The rest of the day was spent giving the laurel hedges another haircut.

Sept 26th ~ Oct 2nd With the railway crossing sign paint baked hard on the evening of September the 26th, it was screwed to the gatepost on the 27th ( I feel safer in the garden now that the sign is up!). I spent the rest of the day moving building sand from the drive to the back garden. On the 28th, the first three full paving slabs had their edges cleaned up of old mortar ( they are reclaimed slabs ). The first three were laid on a bed of mortar, which lies on top of my earthcrete, which by this time was very hard. The last slab couldn't be full size, due to a trunk from the hawthorn hedge, which was a bit too close. A large amount of the hedge sprouts out from this trunk, otherwise I would have just cut it out. I made use of one of the broken slabs, cut to a two foot square slab and then two other smaller pieces cut to fit around the trunk, leaving a bit of growing room. That was as far as I could go without more ground preparation.

I got an area large enough for four paving stones prepared. I need to lay these four slabs before I can go any further, in order to work out the height of the earth preparation for the rest of the path towards the trailer hard stand. I ended the day by painting my new railway sign in black Hammerite. September 26th Much of the 26th was spent moving sand from the front garden to the back, but during some rest breaks, I began painting the white lettering on the crossing sign. Due to the need to rest my hand on the sign in order to paint the white without going over the edges, letters were done a few at a time. By the end of the day, the lettering and edging had all received two coats of white.

September 25th On the 25th, I began working on the foundations for the path, using the "Earth-crete" method. Using my power drill, my new tool worked really well to break up the soil. Due to the amount of stones and the remains of a brick wall under the soil, the nails slowly bent and eventually snapped off. However, the remaining part of the tool I made still worked very well on its own, to break up the soil. After loosening up the clay soil, I shovelled several scoops of building sand into the soil and mixed that in with the drill. This helped to break up the clay further. After that, I mixed in the cement until the earth was a uniform colour. The next step was hard work. I bought a ten pound tamper to pound down the earth to compact it and flatten it. The earth was sticking to the end of the tamper to some degree, so I ended up with a plastic rubble sack on the earth and tamping it down through the bag.

September 18th~20th On the 18th, we had another five bulk bags delivered, this time containing building sand. I needed space in the back garden for the sand, so I began moving paving slabs closer to the area where the path was to be. I watched a Youtube video about a guy who laid a path with recycled paving. He washed them afterwards, only to find out that some were grey while others were green. Thankfully for him, by chance, they were in an alternating pattern! I decided it would be best to jetwash mine before laying them! So far, I've got eighteen done so far, with one odd light coloured one in the first nine. Another move to make more space for sand was to finish another bag of river gravel on the railway ballast edging. I laid a strip of weed membrane on the edge of the earth embankment, to create an area free from plants between the proper ballast area and the embankment. This was then filled with river gravel. This strip will be easier to clean of dead plant matter, than digging around in the main ballast.

A quick test in the border near the kitchen showed it to work, followed by a second test in the path location ( seen in the Before & After picture ). It worked well, even in the hard packed clay. Larger tree roots and bricks will need digging out, but that's easier when the surrounding area is broken up.

We've been gradually creeping away from the original thread topic, but it was all part of the same overall project, which was the garden landscaping. While I have plans to extend the patio beside the house, the hawthorn path is the last major phase of work in the area that was the woodland. Other than some plants in the railway embankment, the hawthorn path will complete this area. September 7th~15th Over the end of August and the beginning of September, I was away at a World War 2 event, so didn't get back to the garden until the second week in September. With the last two pieces of sleeper fitted just before I went away, I was now moving on to the hawthorn path. I decided the best plan would be to pave the area behind the observatory first. Starting here would give me access from my trailer hardstanding to get materials in. From the end nearest the new lawn, I could then work towards the railway, having a path under me as I worked down to the end. When that was done, I could turn around and work up the garden from the observatory, across the back of the trailer hardstanding and up behind the garage. I started by clearing weeds and some roots, and cutting the earth back to approximately level. Due to the fall on the ground, the foundations would slowly need to step up towards the garage from behind the observatory. The foundations would need to step down heading the other way to the railway. I didn't want to dig out and dispose of tons of topsoil, only to buy in tons of hardcore to replace it. Youtube to the rescue! I watch a video on paving which explained what civil engineering projects do, including Heathrow's Terminal 5. Rather than digging out earth and replacing it with hardcore, they use a machine to break up the existing earth, mix cement into it and then pack it down again. The same video then showed the same technique at a small scale for his garden path. His test sample was as hard as concrete. Our soil has quite a lot of clay in it ( along with tree roots, stones, coal and bricks! ), and it is now quite wet and not easy to dig or mix. So I've spent the morning making a tool for my power drill!

August 26th We spent most of Saturday the 26th moving thirty eight, 900 x 600mm paving slabs. We found an architectural salvage yard selling reclaimed paving slabs at around one third to one half the price of new slabs, but unfortunately, they didn't deliver. As a result, we took my flatbed trailer on the 28 mile round trip to collect them ourselves - twice! With a total weight of almost 2,700Kg, we had to split the load, with each round trip to get there, load, get home and unload, taking around two and a half hours. It was back-breaking. August 27th The weather was against me on the 27th, but I was determined to push on and get the sleepers fitted. The day was interrupted by frequent heavy rain, so the tools were in and out of the observatory on a regular basis, since that was the closest power supply and under cover shelter. Ten sleepers were full length with another three cut lengths. I ran out of time and dry weather for the last two short lengths, a four feet and two feet length. I hope to get those fitted tomorrow. I can then move onto the hawthorn hedge path.

The new lawn is taking hold quite well, though I did overseed some thin areas after getting back from France. While we were away, I think the heavy rain washed the seed off some areas. Looking back towards the observatory, it's looking quite good. For the next part of the job, I need to order another fourteen sleepers for the final top layer of the sleeper wall and thirty six 900 x 600 paving slabs, for along the hawthorn hedge. The day ended with a fireball sun setting on the West North West horizon, so I grabbed a few phone pictures over the gate. The last time I did this, there was no ballast or lawn.

I'm pleased with the overall size of the embankment. Early on, I was wondering if I had two much soil, but it's worked out fine. I saved one last bag of soil for filling in some low spots in the lawn at a later date. In the top of the embankment, I've placed a spare paving slab to give me somewhere to stand to do future weeding. I'll probably add a few more large stones randomly along the embankment to use as stepping stones, also to aid weeding. With the right ground cover, the slab should be hidden. Planting may not be until the spring, as it depends on what plants suit the conditions and what time of year suits them best.

August 20th The veggie planters, which saw the first seeds planted in May, are now producing well. For a first time trying to grow veggies, we are quite plased with the results. Since getting home from our holiday in France, I'd moved around seven bags of earth into the railway embankment. On the 20th, I decided to have a final big push to get it finished. With all the rain through July and early August, the soil in the bags got very wet, despite trying to keep them covered. As a result, the soil was very wet and the further down the bag I went, the more sticky and clay like it became. It was really hard work digging it out of the bags, into the wheelbarrow, then pushing it down the garden, up the ramp and onto the embankment. It took several hours, but I emptied another eight bulk bags of soil. It was so sticky, I often had to dig it out of the bag, then use a trowel to scrape it off the shovel into the barrow! Based on the volume and soil density, it was approximately four to five metric tons.

August 7th~11th On the 7th, it was a full on Dodge day, moving 16 bulk bags from the drive to the back garden. Two were dropped near the new lawn, while the rest were stacked up around the garage, garden wall and workshop until needed. The following day, the two bags by the lawn were scooped out into the wheel barrow and tipped out into the embankment next to the railway. The drive was also jet-washed to remove the remaining traces of the soil pile. Between the 9th and 11th, I got another five bags emptied into the embankment, slowly building up the height and width. I also mowed the main lawn, which due to all the rain in July, hadn't been mowed in about 4 weeks. It had got really long and took some effort. With the garden bins being collected wid-week, I also did quite a bit of hedge trimming too. Over the weekend, we were messing around with a new canvas dining shelter for our 1940s camping. I needed some poles and guy ropes making, so we didn't get much else done in the garden.

Why didn't I think of that!! Actually, I use a special filter that goes over the end of the telescope, that blocks 99.9% of the sunlight entering the scope. It looks like metal foil and I believe it is a very thin layer of metal over a thin mylar sheet. The light passes through the telescope through this next filter, which then only allows the 390~398 nanometre wavelength to pass through to the camera. This allows the great detail from just that particular wavelength, without other unfocussed wavelengths causing blurring. Being a refractor using glass lenses, different wavelengths refract through the glass lenses at slightly different angles. More expensive telescopes are designed to minimise this and bring all the wavelengths together at the same point, so it all depends on budget!

This was it almost finished as I hadn't felted the roof when this was taken. The large scope is an 8 inch Skywatcher reflector and is mainly used for planetary and lunar imaging. The smaller one is an 80mm Skywatcher 80ED refractor and is used for deep sky and solar imaging. The Sun in Calcium K Line light ( 390~398nm wavelength ) A close up of Clavius crater on the Moon. Mars.